My Dream Job

It's very difficult to get anywhere if you don't know where you want to go. When I decided to pursue a degree in apparel design, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and that was to design disc golf wear for women. As I went through the program and was introduced to more areas of fashion and design, I wasn't so sure of what I wanted to do anymore. Now, coming to the end of the program and closer to graduation I know what I want to do again. The funny thing is, it hasn't really changed much, it's just including different things than I originally planned.

So, my dream job now is to design outer wear in Asia. I would love to come back and start my disc golf clothing company, but I feel so much more complete knowing I can combine the love of functional design with amazingly different Asian designs. This epiphany came about by watching this video: Big Bang & The North Face

Please give it a watch! It's great! And here's some photos in case you are too lazy:

And my favorite from Big Bang:

Can't get any more CUTE!!

Always around Christmas time and holidays, I find myself perusing the web just looking at stuff. My website of choice this year has been deviantart.com. It never ceases to amaze me the kind of talent that is found on that website.

Recently I discovered Oboro Charms, which are soooo CUTE!! If you didn't know, there is a whole sub-culture of Japanese Kawaii (cute) that has ridiculously cute everything. This store is bringing that idea to the states. Had I made this discovery a little earlier, these would have made great little stocking stuffers my fam! Oh well, maybe a future birthday gift :)

Here are some of the Holiday charms that I think are soooo adorable!

Now go check out their website!

Must-have Nikes

I think that these shoes might be perfect for the tomboy-type of girl. I can't believe how many different color ways and styles are offered in this high-heeled shoe. Definitely on my need to buy list!

Oh the drama!!

Today at work, I was helping a lady with her fabric and her phone rang. Her ringtone was an SS501 song that just happened to be the theme song of the Korean drama I watched earlier this summer called "Boys Before Flowers." I was SO excited! I told her that I knew the song and that it was from that drama, and we shared a little moment of Korean drama and Korean pop discussion!

I was very excited to find out that the heart-throb in "Boys Before Flowers" is now starring in a new drama called "City Hunter." She also recommended that I watch "IRIS," which has one of my favorite band artists in the cast (TOP from Big Bang!). So now I really have to watch some more dramas! Kind of makes me wish I was trying to learn Korean right now instead of Japanese...

Here are the links to the shows if you are interested. After I watch them I'll post a little review:

City Hunter
IRIS
Boys Before Flowers

A note about "City Hunter": this show is currently going on in Korea, and isn't supposed to end until August. If you are interested in watching "Boys Before Flowers", I definitely recommend it, though the end gets a little cheesy and ridiculous (still cute though!).

And here is a photo of Lee Min Ho. This is why these dramas are so addicting :)

No News is Good News?

Hello! I'm back! I will try to catch my blog up to all of the big events that have happened this year that have been preventing me from blogging! For now though, I have a different topic on my mind.

I have heard the phrase "no news is good news" before and it seems to be a true statement. In reading back through my blog posts of this year, I came across my posting for Japan's tsunami. Isn't it funny that when this tragic event happened you couldn't go anywhere without hearing about it. The rising death toll. New satellite photos. Fukushima's nuclear disaster.

I still see the occasional "donate to Japan" on some websites (might be more frequent for a person like me who visits Asian websites...), but I don't really hear any news about what is going on. I would assume that Japan is getting on with rebuilding and turning their misfortune around.

I have made the decision to visit Japan after graduating from Oregon State next year, and with this decision comes a need to convince my parents. My mom brought up this topic of rebuilding, so I decided to see what I could find on the internet for any news.

One article stated that 7 of the 9 regions reported an up in the economy views. As I read the rest of the article, it appears that the the economies are doing a little better, but some regions are still in a severe state. With the Fukushima incident, there are several obstacles in the way of reopening and utilizing that power. Production is encouraged to go overseas, and consumers are told to limit their use of power to prevent a black out. Another article reported that the man appointed as the Disaster Reconstruction Minister has stepped down already after scolding a governor of one of Japan's regions not doing well. If you want to read either of these articles, here they are:

BOJ: 7 Out of 9 Japan Regions Up Econ Views
Matsumoto Quits as Japan Cabinet Minister

So it looks things are moving towards progress, but I don't think anyone can say it's "good news" yet. On a lighter note, here is a fun bike helmet I'm looking at, from a website that allows you to buy hard-to-find-things from Japan! (I've also added this website to my links).

For the love of shoes!

You may have noticed that I have added another friend to my blog roll. This lovely lady, is Mandi Kremer, whom I had the opportunity of dressing at Portland Fashion Week. As I found with a lot of the models, they were so much more friendly that I thought they would be. The other amazing thing about Mandi, is that she designs her own shoes. (Designing by adding things to her shoes and making them spectacular!)

Miss Grishley wrote an article for the Daily Barometer talking about her fabulous shoes after Portland Fashion Week.

She recently designed some new ones, and I am now saving up my monies to buy a pair!
Here's a bad picture of the shoes, go to Mani's blog to see them better!

Tsunami

It is amazing to me how news can travel so fast in this world. We live over 7,000 miles away from Japan, and yet, moments after a devastating incident, we know about it. It's too bad we don't have a way to prevent these things from happening. The wonderful thing that comes from our current technology, is that we can send help and aid that much faster. Even Lady Gaga is contributing by selling bracelets.

Somewhat-comforting thoughts are that of all countries to get hit with this, Japan is most prepared (at least for the earthquake part). Less people have died than could have, but that is still people who are gone and family and friends left to miss them.

As you may or may not know, I'm trying to get an internship in Japan for Fall term 2011. I know by then Japan will be up and running again, but I feel so sad for what's happened.

Here's a good article about what's happened in Japan. And I leave with the image of the Great Wave.